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I was pretty afraid Wood was going to drop the ball considering his X book has been not very good....and well he didn't drop the ball but this issue is a let down from Bendis being enjoyable. It also doesn't move the story the way the first 2 issues do. This issue does one thing. It moves young Jean and Young Scott from the beach to Asteroid M/Utopia to meet up with the Uncanny X-Men so next issue should be a fight of some sort. If anyone screwed up this issue it was Lopez, there were more characters without faces in this one issue then an issue staring the question.

doombug wrote:You really are the george carlin of the outhouse. that's fucking hilarious.

doombug wrote:and yeah, Yoni called it.

I feel like a condemned building with a brand new flag pole.- Les Paul

They all got together and planned the story, he got given this section of the story to write and he did it very well. He can't be expected to add anything that wasn't discussed in their meeting, nor he can just make stuff up that will not be covered later on by the other two writers. He's the bitch-boy of the x-men writers at the moment and did a good job with what he got. The other guys have obviously taken the more entertaining parts of the story to write

I didn't actually realise I was reading Wood's X-Men until the kind of forced Jubilee appearances. I honestly thought I was reading All New. It definitely had more fluidity than Bendis, who only seems to write about crowds of people standing in one place and getting angry with each other. The art was pretty shaky though, same as last issue. I much prefer Coipel. My overall impression was that this series was completely shafted by the crossover in this issue.

CyclopsWasRight wrote:I didn't actually realise I was reading Wood's X-Men until the kind of forced Jubilee appearances. I honestly thought I was reading All New. It definitely had more fluidity than Bendis, who only seems to write about crowds of people standing in one place and getting angry with each other. The art was pretty shaky though, same as last issue. I much prefer Coipel. My overall impression was that this series was completely shafted by the crossover in this issue.

Yeah I just don't think he writes a very good x-book. And if he was involved in the planning of this crossover than he should be able to write it better.

doombug wrote:You really are the george carlin of the outhouse. that's fucking hilarious.

doombug wrote:and yeah, Yoni called it.

I feel like a condemned building with a brand new flag pole.- Les Paul

Meh, I liked the issue. I'm a big fan of Jean though, and have always loved these type of "Jean & Scott vs. the world" stories dating back to the end of Dark Phoenix, so this sort of played into my wheelhouse.

Part 3 of ‘Battle Of The Atom’ and even though Bendis has handed things off to Brian Wood, the story is keeping up the same quality level that the other Brian set up, and also maintaining just enough of this title’s own individual identity that it doesn’t feel totally subsumed by the crossover.

Picking up right where All-New left off, the main focus of this issue is Young Jean and Scott’s attempts to flee from the Present-Day and Future X-Men that want to send them back to past. We find out a little bit more about these mysterious future dudes, including that Future Jean has to keep the Xorn mask on to control her powers, and that Xavier can access Cerebro through a pill. But the most interesting thing here was the interaction between Scott and Jean, which was really quite sweet. When the OG X-Men came to the future, Jean was horrified by what Present-Day Scott had done, and they fell out, but now they are kind of back together, and it’s great to see these two star-crossed lovers reconnect. I’m not a ‘shipper’, but if I was, I’d ship Scott and Jean (Sean? Jott?), sorry Wolverine and Emma Frost, you miss out.

As I said, Wood makes sure to keep some of what he was doing in this title before the crossover began, so regular cast members like Jubilee, Shadowcat and Rachel Grey get a bit of spotlight, and he brings the tension between Rachel and Storm to prominence when Rachel and Kitty are the ones to rescue OG Scott and Jean from the others. It’s a small thing, but I also liked the scenes with OG Beast and Iceman sitting watching TV, that was funny, although I’m sure that they’ll get more important as the story continues.

In the end, the only place for Scott and Jean to run to is the last place Scott wants to go… to himself. Yep, the two runaways look to be joining up with Present-Day Cyclops and his Uncanny X-Men, which should be exciting. 3 of the books in this crossover are all about teams based out of the X-Mansion following Wolverine’s path and mission, but Uncanny is the wildcard, and I can’t wait to see what role Scott and his team plays in this story.

Battle Of The Atom has gotten off to a great start, and since it’s pretty much weekly, I’m excited for more, we haven’t even had a chapter written by Jason Aaron yet! This is the best the X-Books have been in ages, and this story really is bringing it.

David Lopez’s art was very strong also, perhaps not quite as great as Cho or Immonen, but then who is? I particularly like his facial expressions, like when Jean is perving on topless Scott.

Oh yeah, and did anyone else notice that Future Deadpool spoke in a normal word-balloon? A mistake? Or a clue…

Last edited by Punchy on Fri Sep 13, 2013 5:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

There was a lot going on in this issue, but it was subtle. Marvel events have trained people to only recognize big, dumb stories driven by press releases and the promise of future status quo changes in this type of book.

The fact is Wood and Lopez created a great comic here, with the writing and art working together and using mood and tone to tell the story, where it's not the conversations and actions that are most important, but what the reader can infer from observing them.

This book really drives home how creepy the Future X-men are. They showed up out of nowhere and quickly took charge. Most of the School X-men don't seem to even question anything they say. In this issue, they go hunting Scott and Jean, and the School X-men are acting out of character in both their aggression and their nonchalant acceptance of the course of action, which is really pretty terrifying, when you think about it.

They are trusting some people from the future who they've only known for what? An hour or two at most? Probably less? Two of these future X-men are extremely powerful telepaths who have been shielding their minds the whole time. They made powerful telepath Rachel stay behind. Once Kitty and Rachel are outside of the influence of the future X-Men, they suddenly start questioning things. Coming out of a fog maybe? Hmm...

Meanwhile, we see Scott and Jean reconnecting. Jean mistrusted Scott in ANXM because of everything she's learned about the future. She has every reason to be pessimistic about their relationship, enough to push him away and even betray him with Hank. But when it came down to it, Scott was the only one she could count on, and in the face of everything he's learned about the future, he's unfalteringly determined. He tells Jean he'd do anything for her, and he means it. It's as good as Scott has been written in over a decade, if not longer (and of course he has been great in ANXM as well). All of this is conveyed in a very short scene, with few words. You don't get that from a writer and artist who aren't "top notch."

When the future and present X-men catch up with them, the action is fast-paced, effective, and scary. All the elements that were set up in the first two issues and that we've studied the effects of this issue up to now come together:

There's the feeling of unease evoked by the actions of the future and present X-men and the future X-Men's sinister vibe. There's the feeling of danger and desperation in Scott and Jean running and fighting for their survival. Rachel and Kitty show up, they call the X-men out on all of the above. The present X-men seem to be rational for a moment. They're not attacking anymore. Scott and Jean escape. Are the future X-men evil? What are they planning? Are Scott and Jean doing the right thing, or are they paranoid and endangering reality? If they're paranoid, the reader is paranoid too, at least if the reader paid attention to the subtle clues in behavior and mood the creative team packed into this book. They trusted future DEADPOOL to shoot at Scott and Jean with a sniper rifle. That's insane. No one questioned it.

And what an ending! Going to the Uncanny X-Men for help? Those guys have problems of their own, but they may well be the only people young Scott and Jean can trust.

If you thought this issue was boring, you should read it again and try harder.